A Long Time Ago
by writeforlove
Summary: "Dammit," she muttered./ "What?" he managed to ask as he peeled off her shirt. /"This was a test," she said as she shimmied out of her skirt. "And I failed." /He stopped to leer at her lacy black underwear. "I'd give you a passing grade," he informed her.


They had this thing years ago, where, every time they were alone together, they threw each other up against walls and got naked. And that was one thing when they were in senior year of high school and during the first few years they attended Queen's University together, but by the later college years, when they had fallen into living together, it sort of became a bigger deal. They started basically sharing a bedroom and Casey gave up even the pretext of dating other guys. They'd never discussed it, but she actually hadn't seen Derek with another girl since the first time they'd been together, and thought maybe he gave up on dating even before she did. She and Derek may not have had anything real, but they were spending more time in bed and less slammed up against walls.

Casey was glad, but only because it couldn't have been good for her back (or his) to continue on as they had been. After all, you can`t just carry on banging where ever was handiest forever. Grown-ups had beds.

This sudden regression worried her for similar reasons. They were far too old to be slamming each other up against walls just because they were alone together for practically the first time since they'd stopped.

ooOoo

So Derek knew he was in trouble just about the instant he set eyes on Casey at their parents tenth wedding anniversary party. That proved true when, a mere forty-five minutes into the event, he saw her walk out the door by herself. She didn't look back or try to catch his eye or anything, but then, she had never done so in the past either.

He'd followed her, cursing his own stupidity and weakness, and got to the elevator just in time to make it inside before the doors closed. He nodded to the lady on crutches, the only other occupant, who shuffled aside for him, and stepped to Casey's side. She didn't acknowledge him in the least, which he actually found strangely reassuring, reminding him of the way she had always been especially careful to ignore him around other people right after they'd had sex somewhere inappropriate.

When the injured woman limped out on the second floor, Derek took the risk of wrapping an arm around Casey's silk clad waist.

Next thing he knew, they were taking full advantage of the empty elevator.

ooOoo

_It had been far too long_.

The thought played on loop in her head, even when all other thoughts were driven away by the feel of his mouth on her neck. Far too long since she had last been with him like this. Maybe there was a good reason for that, maybe there was just a stupid one, but the fact remained.

It had been far too long.

As the elevator slowly rose to the fourteenth floor of the hotel where they were staying, Casey couldn't help but compare what was happening now to what had happened years before. When he backed her into the wall, hoisting her so that her legs straddled his hips, Casey was struck by the thought that it was even better between them now. His hands beneath her skirt, his back under her hands, his teeth on her neck-

It was all better this time.

She had high hopes for what came next, given the mind-blowing nature of the last two minutes. His hand pushed inside her panties just as the elevator door opened behind Casey's back. She gasped as he staggered out of the car, supporting her weight. She stumbled to her feet in the richly carpeted hallway, realising that she had lost one of her high heels somewhere between the reception downstairs and the place she now stood.

Quickly, she pulled his mouth up for a kiss.

The reception downstairs didn't bear thinking about, just now. Right now, Casey didn't want to think at all, she just wanted him to open he door to his hotel room and let them inside.

Of course, since she was Casey, not thinking lasted all of about two minutes.

ooOoo

"Dammit," she muttered.

"What?" he managed to ask as he peeled off her shirt.

"This was a test," she said as she shimmied out of her skirt. "And I failed."

He stopped to leer at her lacy black underwear. "I'd give you a passing grade," he informed her.

Casey rolled her eyes. "I hate failing. Especially this time, because I'm going to have to give this back." she held her left hand a loft, and something glittery flashed in the light.

"He proposed?" Derek asked, not making any sudden movements, a little afraid of doing the wrong thing. Right in this moment, his shirt was off and Casey was so close to naked, closer then he'd had her in several years.

"Yeah," Casey breathed out, biting her lip. He wished she wouldn't do that, because, yeah, it made him want to bite it for her, but it also reminded him of when they were still a couple of high school kids messing about and in so, so far over their heads. It reminded him of a girl who had kissed him for the first time, then stepped back, looking at the ground, gnawing off her chapstick with a worried frown.

"And you said yes?" he asked, just to confirm, glaring at the glittering bit of jewellery that he knew could have answered the question for him, had he been willing to listen.

"No," Casey said wringing her hands, stupidly sparkly ring and all. "I said I had to think about it, and he asked if I'd wear the ring while I thought. Which is actually kind of condescending, now that I think about it."

"It's not something I'd do," Derek said as air managed to make its way to his lungs once more.

"Well, he does a lot of things you wouldn't be caught dead doing," Casey informed him, meeting him eyes once more.

"Like what?" Derek challenged, hating the competitive jealousy rising within him. It was far too early for all this talking; he was supposed to have post-coital bliss as an excuse for when things got mushy. Derek seriously considered just throwing her down on the bed and _making_ her take a break from the discussion.

But there was still the matter of that ring on her finger...

"Like ask me to marry him," Casey responded, stepping closer, nearly touching him. "You'd never do that."

He wrapped his arms around her, because she was so close, and kissed her throat. This was what was supposed to come first, anyway.

"Would you?" she asked, and he almost missed it. He got the feeling that if he pretended not to have heard her, she'd go along with it. They'd be naked in a second and he could leave all this emotional crap for later.

"I might," he said instead, pulling back so that their noses just barely touched. "If..."

"If?" she prompted, and he felt the word as much as heard it. He looked her straight in her bright blue eyes.

"If I thought for a second that you'd say yes," Derek admitted, watching as those pretty eyes widened a bit in surprise.

She kissed him, trailing her lips from his mouth along his jaw. This is the way it was supposed to be...

"Would you?" he asked, squeaked out, really, and he was afraid she missed it. Could he go on if she pretended not to have heard? He thought he probably could...

"I might," she whispered, lips curling into a smile that made him _feel_. "If..."

"If?" he prompted breathlessly, making sure she was looking right at him.

"If you asked," she told him.

They breathed together for a moment.

"Okay," he said, sucking in another breath and glancing down from her face, which filled most of his vision. Suddenly he smirked, liking the recognition in Casey's eyes when he did. "Let me help you off with that."

"My underwear?"

"No," he growled playfully, taking her hands. "That ring."

She let him take it, and then her last pieces of clothing quickly followed.

ooOoo

"So, can I ask you now?" Derek wanted to know, as Casey lay sprawled across his bare chest.

"Hmmm?" Casey murmured sleepily, looking at her left hand clasped in his right. She'd been wearing someone else's ring less than an hour before, and she thought maybe she ought to be panicking about that a bit, especially since she still had to tell that particular someone that she wasn't going to wear his ring anymore. She couldn't quite work up the right emotions to panic, though.

"Can I ask you now?" he repeated, and she glanced up at his face.

"Ask whatever you want," she encouraged, as if she didn't know what question he was referring to.

"Casey, will you marry me?"

She let the question stand, savouring it a moment, before she put on a thoughtful frown. "Do you have a ring?" she countered mildly.

"Case, I wasn't really anticipating proposing today," Derek reminded her, just as mildly, "The only ring I know about in the vicinity has someone's unsuccessful proposal wrapped up in it. Seems a bit in poor taste to use that."

"Yes, I can see that," Casey said regretfully, shifting to rest her chin on his chest so she could look into his amused brown eyes. "But you have to have a ring."

"Of course you do," Derek said ruefully. "Okay, let me up."

Casey did, taking a moment to settle the sheet around herself as Derek rooted through his discarded clothing. She raised an eyebrow when he first produced a pocket knife, and again a moment later when he pulled a braided leather bracelet from the sleeve of his shirt where it must have gotten caught during the earlier shedding of clothing.

Derek made quick work of cutting the length of leather down to size, before kneeling at Casey's feet where she sat on the edge of the bed. He tied the former bracelet around her left ring finger. "Will you marry me now, Casey?"

"I was always going to marry you," Casey told him, pulling her fiancé back into the bed. "I thought that part was settled."

"You know, I think it probably was," Derek agreed, "I think it was probably settled a long time ago, even if we spent three years denying it."


End file.
